00:03Bananas grow on islands all over the Pacific, and for a long time, archaeologists have suspected that they were brought
00:09there from Asia by humans.
00:11After all, it's not easy to cross an ocean that vast by accident.
00:14According to Atlas Obscura, thousands of years ago, humans arrived in boats to remote Oceana.
00:20The islands like Fiji scattered across the Pacific.
00:23But in the tropics, everything rots fast, leaving behind little evidence of ancient human diets.
00:28A study from the University of Otago in New Zealand turned to the meals preserved on the teeth of early
00:33settlers.
00:34Researchers analyzed plaque from teeth found at a burial site of the ancient Lapita people.
00:40Monica Tromp, who led the team, said that microparticles of food hardened into plaque are a window into the past,
00:46like the infamous Jurassic Park mosquito in amber.
00:49The plaque contained traces of bananas, suggesting that the Lapita Voyagers had packed bananas to bring along with them to
00:56their new home.
00:56The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
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